Pribumi seeks PKR seats lost to Umno in Selangor

Tussle for seats delaying allocation, says Pakatan insider

KLANG: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Pribumi) wants to contest in the seats PKR lost to Umno in Selangor the last general election.

A Pakatan Harapan insider, who is privy to the seat negotiations between PKR, Pribumi, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) and DAP, said this was why talks were still ongoing.

“Pribumi’s battle is against Umno and the party wants a fierce face-off.

“Party leaders think it is not a tall order to want all the seats PKR lost to Umno in the 13th general election,” said the source.

However, he added, some PKR leaders were not willing to give up seats lost to Umno by a small margin.

PKR lost to Umno in the Dengkil, Kota Damansara, Semenyih, Kuang, Bukit Melawati, Permatang and Batang Kali constituencies.

“The PKR machinery has been working in these constituencies to gain the people’s confidence from the time the polls were over in 2013.

“Many party members, especially at the grassroots level, feel PKR’s chances of wresting the seats from Umno are good as they have put in a lot of hard work in these constituencies,” he said.

He said PKR was also looking at increasing its number of seats from the current 13 to continue being in control of the Selangor state administration.

“To achieve this, the party must at least contest for some of the seats it lost to Umno,” he said, adding that although negotiations involved four parties, technically only two parties were serious about it.

“Basically, there are no issues involving the DAP as it will merely defend its current seats and work on getting bigger majorities,” he said.

The DAP won all the seats it contested in Selangor in the 13th general election with majorities above 50%.

The lowest majorities were 52.3% in Sungai Pelek and Kuala Kubu Baru and 56.8% in Sekinchan.

For Amanah, its only focus is fighting it out with its nemesis PAS and it is not interested in any other seats, said the source.

He said Amanah had little to say in seat negotiations as the party wanted to only face PAS in every constituency that the Islamist party is interested in.

“The battle between Amanah and PAS can be prevented if (Selangor Mentri Besar and PKR deputy president) Datuk Seri Azmin Ali can convince PAS to work with Pakatan Harapan in the polls.

“He can work out an agreement along the lines of Pakatan Harapan+1 and give his word that PAS will be included in the state administration when he forms his new state government,” he said.

When contacted, Federal Territories Amanah chairman Dr Hatta Ramli said negotiations were going on in a very amicable manner.

“All four parties are still negotiating, and once we have completed, we will make an announcement of the seat allocations,” said Dr Hatta, declining to comment further.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke said he could not comment because the negotiations were bilateral meetings.

PKR communications chief Fahmi Fadzil, who is also involved in the negotiations, said discussions between the four-partner parties were “dynamic”.

To a question about Pribumi eyeing the seats PKR lost to Umno, Fahmi said it was “not necessarily so”.

He said all parties were looking at multiple factors and the “big picture”, which includes equal representation.